Last year for Channukah we experimented with a new recipe. I had read about it in Food and Wine and being a lover of all things Gail I really wanted to try them.
My mom came to visit and made them and they were so delicious we made them again this year. We had a bit of a pot luck Channukah feast last week with Dan and Jen bringing her AMAZING matzoh ball soup and a delicious goat cheese and pear salad, seriously she makes the best salads so I always make her bring one. My mom made her famous meatballs and of course the latkes, and Matthew delivered a perfectly cooked roast beef. Ramona saved the day with her homemade rugelach and snickerdoodles or we wouldn’t have had much dessert at all.
Do yourself a favor and make these. You don’t have to wait for Channukah! They would be great in a mini size for a party and they freeze well and reheat. Don’t forget the sour cream and applesauce for dipping, even though my dad will tell you to sprinkle them with sugar.
INGREDIENTS
3 1/2 pounds baking potatoes, peeled and halved
1 large yellow onion, cut into 8 wedges
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons chopped dill (we leave this out)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
Canola oil, for frying
Applesauce and sour cream, for serving
DIRECTIONS
Set a large strainer over a bowl. In a food processor fitted with the shredding disk, shred the potatoes and onion in batches. Add each batch to the strainer and let stand for 5 minutes, then squeeze dry. Pour off all of the liquid in the bowl and add the shredded potatoes. Stir in the flour, eggs, dill, salt and baking powder. Scrape the mixture back into the strainer and set it over a bowl; let stand for 5 minutes.
In a very large skillet, heat 1/4 inch of canola oil until shimmering. Spoon 2 tablespoons of the potato mixture into the canola oil for each latke, pressing slightly to flatten. Fry over moderate heat, turning once, until the latkes are golden and crisp on both sides, about 7 minutes. Drain the latkes on a paper towel–lined baking sheet. Serve the latkes hot with applesauce and sour cream
Sunday night menu planning and this is on the menu for the week. We’ve had it before and its delicious and easy. Its out of one of my favorite cookbooks – Jamie’s Food Revolution. I highly recommend it for simple, tasty meals.
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 c. long-grain or basmati rice
½ lb. pork tenderloin, preferably free-range or organic
1 small red onion
1 red or yellow bell pepper (or ½ of each)
A thumb-sized piece of fresh root ginger
2 cloves of garlic
½ – 1 fresh red chile, to your taste
a small bunch of fresh cilantro
peanut or vegetable oil
1 heaped teaspoon five-spice powder
1 teaspoon cornstarch
2-3 tablespoons soy sauce
1x 8-ounce can of pineapple chunks
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
To prepare your stir-fry
Halve the pork tenderloin and cut into ¾ inch cubes. Peel and halve the red onion, then dice into ¾ inch cubes. Halve the bell pepper, seed, and cut into ¾ inch cubes. Peel and finely slice the ginger and garlic. Finely slice the chile. Pick the cilantro leaves and put them to one side. Finely chop the cilantro stalks.
To cook your stir-fry
Preheat a wok or large frying pan on high heat and once it’s very, very hot, add a good lug of oil and swirl it around. Add the pork and five-spice powder and toss or stir them around. Cook for a few minutes until browned, then transfer to a bowl using a slotted spoon.
Carefully give the wok or pan a quick wipe with a ball of paper towels and return to the heat. When it’s really hot, add 2 good lugs of oil and all the chopped ingredients. Toss or stir everything together and cook for 2 minutes.
Stir in the cornstarch and 2 tablespoons of soy sauce. Let everything cook for 30 to 40 seconds, then add the pineapple chunks with their juice, the browned pork and balsamic vinegar. Season with black pepper and a little more soy sauce, if needed.
Break open a piece of the pork, check it’s cooked through, and remove from the heat. Reduce the sauce to a gravy-like consistency by cooking for a few minutes more.
This salmon dish takes 10 minutes to prep and 15 minutes to cook, making it ideal for a weeknight. I’ve experimented with extra spinach (too watery) but feel free to mix it up. It never fails to impress and clean up is 1 cutting board and 1 small bowl. Awesome all around
Ingredients
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
1 tablespoon salt-packed capers, rinsed well and coarsely chopped
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place a rimmed baking sheet in oven to heat. Cut parchment to size.
Stir together butter, capers, parsley, and garlic in a small bowl; set aside.
Divide potato slices between parchment rectangles, layering them in stacks to form a bed (slightly larger than the salmon fillet) to one side of crease. Season with salt and pepper.
Top each bed of potatoes with one quarter of the shallots followed by half the spinach. Place salmon fillets on top of spinach. Divide remaining shallots evenly between packets. Top each salmon fillet with lemon slices Dot with caper butter; season with salt and pepper: We now do the butter mixture under the lemon
Fold parchment paper over ingredients, at the crease. Starting with one end of the paper and keeping edges together, make small overlapping pleats the length of the paper, creasing tightly as you go and shaping the edge into an arc. The packet should resemble a half-moon.
Carefully transfer packets to preheated baking sheet. Bake until packets have puffed, 15 to 18 minutes. Transfer packets to plates. Serve immediately, opening packets at the table. Garnish with remaining lemon slices.
In case you need help with the parchment folding (I did)
Last Saturday I met my friend Katie and her son Will at the farmer’s market for a stroll and a shop. We went over to the turkey guy and Katie told me all about this awesome turkey meatloaf she was going to make that evening. After thinking about it for 6 days straight we made it last night.
Delicious!
We made 1/2 recipe for us with plenty to freeze for Asher to eat later. Although I think we will make a smaller loaf/loaves with more glaze next time…and maybe caramelize the onions.
We went for paper towels but there were raspberries, lots and lots of beautiful raspberries.
“Lets make some jam” he says “I think I’ll buy a case. Make that two”
2 cases = $50 = a shit ton of raspberries but that is what you need to make jam.
On the way home we realize the canning jars are in storage so we go pick up new ones. $10
“$60 is a lot for some jam” I say. “How much jam do we get for $60?”
“We must consult the old family recipe, passed down from generation to generation.”
“On the back of the Certo box.”
Certo boxes in hand we head home and get to work.
“Its a hard job but someone has to do it”
The box says we will have 7 pints of jam. Kind of a crap deal for $60 if you ask me.
After measuring and mushing up the berries and putting them in a pot with water and sugar we realize we have a bit more than we bargained for.
Matthew siphons 1/4 the mixture into a smaller pot and adds the certo when it boils.
Once its complete he fills 5 of the 12 pint jars. “Hmm” I say, because I am very good at math, and also stating the obvious. “If 1/4 of the recipe is 5 pints we will need 20 pints.”
WE HAVE 12 PINT JARS. its 8pm on Sunday night and we are covered in raspberries.
After some minor freaking out that 3/4 of a pot of jam will be thrown right in the trash he realizes we haven’t yet put in the certo and the big pot is only raspberries and sugar so we take it off the stove and let it cool down.
The next day I buy every single jar at the overpriced fancy kitchen store and we heat up the raspberries again, add the certo and do the canning thing.
The verdict: $50 will be more than enough to cover your jam needs for the next few decades.
This is what I was craving when I walked off the plane from Barcelona. I have made it 4 times in the past few months. Its amazing and even better after its frozen.
I’m not normally down with the casserole but it is really really delicious.
Here is her recipe and my adaptations. I like to serve it with a salad because it needs the crunch.
Ingredients
2 cups Cooked Chicken: I use 2 large chicken breasts on the bone
3 cups Dry Spaghetti, Broken Into Two Inch Pieces
2 cans Cream Of Mushroom Soup
2 cups Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese: 1 cup was fine
¼ cups Finely Diced Green Pepper
¼ cups Finely Diced Onion
1 jar (4 Ounce) Diced Pimentos, Drained
2 cups Reserved Chicken Broth From Pot: just enough to make the mix the right consistency
1 teaspoon Lawry’s Seasoned Salt: wha? why? we don’t use this because I don’t know what it is
1/8 teaspoons (to 1/4 Teaspoon) Cayenne Pepper: or more, lots more
Salt And Pepper, to taste
1 cup Additional Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese: or 1/2 it. enough to cover the top.
Preparation Instructions
Cook 1 cut up fryer and pick out the meat to make two cups. Cook spaghetti in same chicken broth until al dente. Do not overcook. When spaghetti is cooked, combine with remaining ingredients except additional 1 cup sharp cheddar.
Place mixture in casserole pan and top with remaining sharp cheddar. Cover and freeze up to six months, cover and refrigerate up to two days, or bake immediately: 350 degrees for 45 minutes until bubbly. (If the cheese on top starts to get too cooked, cover with foil).
Aaaaaaand that wraps up my 2 consecutive posts on pumpkin. I will now write a week’s worth of posts on other things I have no interest in. Hope everyone is super excited to hear about baseball stats, sci-fi novels and how computers work!
I cannot get away from the pumpkin these days. Almost every blog I read today had a recipe for pumpkin. Even some of the design blogs. I can’t really say that any of these look especially good to me because I just don’t care for the stuff but if you are looking for a round-up of pumpkin recipes I read in the last week it is your lucky day!
